Do I need an intervention?

November 1, 20132135 views

Watching a family member struggle with drug or alcohol use is frustrating and can leave others around the individual in the substance use, feeling helpless. If the person struggling with alcohol or drug use is you, then you may be feeling that you need help, but at the same time may not feel that you are in the right frame of mind to get help. You may have thought, do I need an intervention, but have fallen short of asking for one.

The purpose of an intervention is to force someone to get the help they need for an alcohol or drug problem. Interventions generally include some type of confrontation or attack on the person with substance use and in most cases the people closest to the individual are present. In most cases, the family member and friends will tell the individual the impact their substance use is having on them and there are usually ultimatums given during the intervention.

There is nothing productive about a confrontational attack on a loved one regarding their substance use. These types of interventions only prove to drive a wedge between the family and friends and the substance user. Rather than encourage them to get help, the opposite will likely occur and they may sink deeper into their alcohol and drug use.

An intervention is supposed to inspire a change in the behavior patterns of the individual engaging in alcohol or drug use. While the original intent may have been to intervene in the individual’s life in a nonthreatening manner, many have watched interventions play out on TV or you may have actually seen firsthand that they can become a source of contention.

A solution to traditional intervention is a Family Liaison from St. Jude Retreats. The Family Liaison can help open the channels of communication between family members and a loved one who is using alcohol and drugs. The St. Jude Family Liaison is a program director and experienced instructor who can help families with how to approach their loved one.

The Family Liaison at St. Jude Retreats does not bully or intimidate the person the substance use to seek help, rather their purpose is to educate the individual on their options and let them make the decision to get help. Where other interventionists are more confrontational, the St. Jude Retreats Family Liaison applies no pressure and is there to guide the family and substance user through the process and keep communication open.

Traditional interventionists have a 5 to 20 percent success rate and that is largely due to the fact that traditional services align themselves with 12 step methods which promote a substance use equals disease theory model. Whereas, St. Jude Retreats Family Liaison has a much higher 30 to 70 percent success rate.

St. Jude Retreats offers cognitive behavioral education that teaches guests to use self assessment and self change to make productive choices and to develop positive habits and behaviors for a more purposeful life. Our guests discover that they can have a life that is permanently free from substance use.

About Mark W. Scheeren

After completing a court mandated drug and alcohol treatment program in 1989, Mark Scheeren realized the “treatment” he received left him more depressed and anxious. A chance meeting with researcher Jerry Brown started a collaborative research effort spanning over a quarter century and lead to the development of the first non-12 step method, the Saint Jude Retreats and the St. Jude Program with Mark serving as its first graduate and now as Research Fellow and Chairman. Together Jerry, Mark and their research team continuously test and refine the methods known as the Saint Jude Program and the Cognitive Behavioral Learning (CBL) approach it supports through the longest observational study of "addiction" ever documented (26 years - March '15)